Shoes, earthquakes and X-rays
Food and Fame in the Italian countryside
You might have noticed in previous episodes of this blog the occasional moan about the glacial pace with which the Italian authorities are reacting to last year’s earthquakes. It’s almost as though it came as a surprise to a country where seismic activity is a regular occurrence. After all, we’ve got a huge live volcano a couple of hundred kilometres to the south. But while the government, regional and national, is dragging its feet, individual Italians are stepping up to the plate.
A couple of episodes ago I wrote about new school funded by the generosity of the people of Venezia-Friuli up in the north. And opera singer Andrea Bocelli is personally putting up the money for another school. Both of those projects are in Sarnano, but just the other side of the mountain there’s another wonderful project just launched in the badly damaged little town of Visso.
Depopulation is a big danger faced by towns like Visso. Most of its shops and small business premises have been declared inagibile, closed by the authorities until government-sponsored repairs are carried out. Cafes are the lifeblood of small Italian towns, and in the picture above you can see that the Caffe Sibilla next to the theatre in the heart of town is closed. Getting small commercial enterprises like these going again is vital to ensuring that people don’t simply drift away, the town dying on its feet.
Step in Enrico Bracalente, and his wonderful wife. Bracalente is the boss of NeroGiardini, a Marchigiano shoe magnate. After his wife paid a couple of visits to Visso and nearby Ussita and saw the extent of the damage for herself, she persuaded Signor Bracalente to pay a visit. Moved by what he saw, Enrico is donating 150,000 Euros to put up two temporary buildings as a multi-functional space which will enable small businesses to re-open.
And, in true Italian style, they’re even going to build a small square with a fountain so the local citizens can have a public space in which to congregate. I’m not sure, but I think there’s a fair bet that the Caffe Sibilla will be there to provide them all with the necessary caffe and aperitivi.
NeroGiardini are a pretty cool company. They are regular sponsors of the annual Opera Festival at our totally unique open-air venue, the Sferisterio in Macerata. If you are even remotely interested in opera you should give it a shot.
You can check out the fascinating history of the Sferisterio in A Recipe for Disaster, my book about our life in Le Marche. It’s in the chapter called Secondo, towards the end, in the Medieval Night section.
Shoes are a big thing here in Le Marche. Along with NeroGiardini we’ve got Tods, and I am told that Hollywood stars fly in to Le Marche to buy their shoes here. Even, get this! Posh Spice. Although that’s just a rumour — I’ve never actually seen her myself. Although I imagine we would be in different aisles in the shoe shop.
Maybe I actually should be buying expensive shoes. Nowadays my left foot sort of collapses every now and again, and the doctor told me should buy better shoes. I’m suspicious of that sort of thing — my first reaction is that she must be in the pay of Nike or something like that (are GPs really so badly paid they have to have a sideline?). To be honest though, when I did buy different shoes it seemed to get quite a bit better.
Not sure how this condition developed, though I do remember when I was a child my local shoe-shop had a fantastic device where you stood on a machine that looked a bit like an upright vacuum cleaner, shuffled your feet underneath and looked down into a mini-TV screen on the top. Yes, you’ve guessed it, I was looking at a live X-ray picture of my own feet! Fascinating for an 8 year-old, but I do wonder whether I am suffering the long-term consequences of radiation exposure. Do you think there’s a compensation claim to be made here? Where are those ambulance-chasing solicitors when you need them?
